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Glass 

Book 



THE TWELFTH 
CHRISTMAS 





By the same author 
TO MOTHER 
Fifty Cents 




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CHARACTERS 

Mary, the mother of Jesus 

Marah, a little child 

The Christ Child 



PLACE 
Joseph's Cottage in Nazareth 





A COTTAGE in Nazareth, tcith a garden 
about it. It is the twelfth birthday of 
Jesus. Through the open door at twilight Mary 
is heard singing at her ivorh. A troop of chil- 
dren swarm up the road, toward the house, 
shouting and wrangling. The Christ Child 
defies them all, protecting a little girl, who 
makes for shelter in the garden Mary appears 
at the door, and speaks to them reproachfully. 




THE CHRIST CHILD 



Ah, Mother, they did beat the little Marah, 
Who had not strength enough to run away. 
A pack of boys did crowd around, like dogs, 
To snap and snarl and bite their weakly 

prey. 
So I did push them back, and bid them 

cease — 
Whereon they turned upon me in their 

wrath — 
'T was all that I could do to beat them off 
While Marah ran to hide within our gates. 
Mother, they spat on me, and stoned me, 

too! 
[Mary puts her arms about Him with sudden 
tenderness. 




But to teach peace to all the world of men, 
This Marah hath a devil, so they say. 



THE CHRIST CHILD 

Ah, Mother, if thou could'st have seen her 

eyes — 
They were just like some hurted, hunted 

thing, 
A little lamb's, before the sacrifice 
Of Passover, which is led forth to die. 
Where did she run to. Mother, did'st thou 

see? 

MARY 

Yonder, behind the laurel, 'twas, I think. 




She's frightened, Mother, can'st thou make 
her come? 

Come hither, Marah, thou art safe enough. 

[An eJf'like child comes toward them.l^ 
What dost thou in the woods so much 
alone? 

MARAH 

I listen to the grass, and to the trees, 
And whisper comfort to the bruised reed. 



MABY 

Poor child, she hath a sun-spot in her head. 

THE CHRIST CHILD 




MAEY 

Perhaps, my Seer-Child, Thou hast found a 

flower, 
Where I had passed along and seen a weed. 
I must get to my spinning, else the day 
Will pass but like a shadow that declineth. 

[She goes into the house and the Christ 
Child sits ly the door. Marah comes and stands 
before Him.'] 

MARAH 

I love Thee — shall I sing to Thee a song? 



THE CHRIST CHILD 

Aye, Marah, sit beside me here, and sing. 




s^ 



Just an outcast weed, 

Sown where all eyes missed it- 
But the purple flower 
Changed to thistledown 

When the sunbeam kissed it. 

A cramped creature lived 

In a chrysalis, 
Hidden in darkness, 
Where no sun ray cleft it. 

But the poor dead shell 

Bloomed a butterfly 
When the white soul left it. 




-^^ 



Must ask the butterfly, for I'll not tell. 
What did'st Thou up among the hills to- 
day? 

THE CHRIST CHILD 

Witch-child, how did'st thou know I wan- 
dered there? 

MAR AH 

No matter how I knew. What did'st Thou 
see? 

THE CHRIST CHILD 

I saw and smelt the earth all soft with 

showers ; 
I saw the hills on every side rejoice, 
And pastures freshly clothed with fat'ning 

flocks. 
And valleys filled with trees all faintly 

green. 




With birds a-twitter in the twigs thereof. 
All this, I saw, and more, O Marah mine, 

MAEAH 

The hawks will kill the birds, and priests 
the sheep ! 

THE CHRIST CHILD 

Who tells thee such tales? 



MAEAH 



No one tells — they're known 
To all the blighted children of the sun. 
But hark — the cricket calls me, I must go. 







MAHAH 

I love Thee, and I'll come. 

[She runs aivay, singingJ] 

Where the firefly leads 
I follow, 

Over dale and through 
The hollow, 

Skimming like the light- 
Winged swallow. 

Where the bullfrogs croak 
And wallow. 

On I fly where willows mourn, 

And the mildew rots the corn; 

Where the Black-Witch winds her horn — 

To the spot where Night is born. 

{The Christ Child sits alone in the twilight. 
Mary comes to the door and bends to touch His 
hair.l 



m 






MARY 

What dost Thou see, my thoughtful, sad- 
eyed Son? 

THE CHRIST CHILD 

Mother, why is it men do hate and kill 
And torture harmless things? 



MARY 

It is because 
The world is full of sin and unredeemed. 



THE CHRIST CHILD 

And will the world be always full of fear? 




The lion, then, shall lie down with the 

lamb, 
All men like brothers shall go hand in hand, 
And a little Child shall lead them. 

THE CHRIST CHILD 

But when, my Mother, will this great day 
be? 

MAKY 

Some day, dear heart, in God's good time 
'twill come. 
[Mary sits down beside her child, and He 
leans against her breast.l 





Dost thou not know? 
Why am I so unlike the children here 
Who hurt things, and who fight and some- 
times kill? 
I am afraid of pain — I am afraid. 



MASY 

My Child! 

[She gathers Him in her arms as if to pro- 
tect Him, and there is silence save far the night 
sounds.^ 

THE CHRIST CHILD 

Mother, when first I went up to the Temple, 
Why did old Simeon take me up and say — 
"My God, I thank Thee I have lived to see 





Fulfillment of Thy promise ere I die"? 
And why did Anna of Jerusalem 
Thank God and kiss my hands and weep 
and pray? 



Thou art so young to know Thy holy 

mission ! 
See — how the Heavens are rolled like to a 

scroll, 
As if some mighty hand did wait to write ! 

THE CHRIST CHILD 

Once, Mother, Anna says, long, long ago, 
An angel came to Joseph in the night. 
And bade him rise and flee from Bethlehem. 
The next day Herod's slaves came, in a 
horde. 




Butchered and slew the babes and little 



ones, 



And only I was saved. 






God promised men to send His Only Son 
To live among them, and to bear their sins, 
And in the end to die, that they might live. 
And so God chose a woman poor and weak, 
Whose lot it was to bear this Son of God. 
She was to love and rear Him as her Son, 
She was to teach her Child and guide His 

feet 
Adown the thorn-strewn way to Calvary. 
Hers it was to make His mouth a sharp 

sword, 
To cut and hew the growth of sin and 

shame ; 
Her task it was to fashion and to shape 
A shaft to pierce the old world's hardened 

heart. 
Ah, little Son, that mother strove so hard 
To day by day grow worthy of her charge. 




"I 




And every hour she died upon her tree 
Of sacrifice and agony! 

THE CHRIST CHILD 

But thou— 
Why dost thou weep so bitterly? 

MASY 

I weep 
Because I love e'en as that mother loved. 

[The Child soothes her gently.'] 

THE CHRIST CHILD 

But, Mother, when will God's son have to 
die? 

MARY 

When men, in whose midst He has spent 
His life, 




Whom He has taught and healed and raised 

again 
From Death; whom He has loved, and 

suffered for, 
Shall stone, deny, revile and spit on Him, 
And crucify Him on a cross of pain ! 



THE CHRIST CHILD 



O Mother — why? 



MARY 



Because great love alone redeems the world. 
And so the Christ and God, His Father, 

suffer. 
Aye, and the mother, she must suffer, too, 
And thus the world is cleansed with tears of 

blood! 

THE CHRIST CHILD 

My Mother, still dost weep? 

[She lifts her head and looks at Him. Sud- 




denhj a shadoiv like the burden of the years falls 
across His face.'] 

What dost thou mean? 
Mother, am I the one called Prince of Peace? 
Am I the little Child who comes to lead 

them? 
O Mother, must I be that little Child? 
Must I alone redeem this great, great world? 
And then the cross ! O Mother, I'm afraid — 
Thou wilt not let them take me from thine 

arms. 
And crucify me? Mother, hold me close! 
O Mother, I'm afraid — I am afraid! 
[Mary holds Him in her arms, weeping,] 





MARY 

Then for her sake 
Who holds Thee close and loves Thee — 

who doth long 
To take Thy burden for her own, and save 

these hands 
The nail prints and these lips the bitter 

drink. 
Thou, Son, must make me worthy of my 

charge, 
And brave enough to sacrifice mine all. 
Together must we learn the scroll of pain. 
Thou for the world's sake, I for Thine, my 

Son. 

[The Child slips from her arms and stands 




beside her. His hand upon her head. Out of 
the darliiess a white light groivs about His 
brow and for the first time the Christ-look 
dawns upon His face.~\ 

THE CHRIST CHILD 

Nay, Mother mine, weep not for me. Hence- 
forth 
I'll be a sturdy staff to comfort thee! 

[He holes off at the moonlit hills and. slowly, 
with outstretched arms, the Christ speaks.] 

THE CHRIST 

O great, wide world, I've come to cleanse 
and save, 

world of sorrow, world of sin and night, 

1 gladly lay upon thine altar high 
This life of mine, and may it usher in 
A dawn of love to flood the universe, 



And shed its life adown all time. 

Let me atone, O God, for all men's sins ; 

Oh, let me free the earth from all its pain ; 

Oh, let me take the sea's moan and the 
wind's 

Wild wail from them and make them mine ! 

Oh, let me take the cry from human souls ; 

Oh, let me bear the weight of human shame ; 

Oh, let me suffer all, that in the end 

I may, through love, lead back mankind to 
Thee! 

O great, white world, kneel thou a peni- 
tent- 
Make me thy prayer, and send me back to 
God! 




21 m\ 



One copy del. to Cat. Div. 
*"9 21 19/1 



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